He was out on his feet, slumped over, he went limp and was falling down face first.
He is lucky the referee did stop it because he was not under any circumstances defending himself.
He was done and out for a few seconds.
Can say headlock all you like, look at his body language prior, during and after that. Look at his posture, his arms.
pretty much my thoughts too.
Different angle - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51bAmx89ciw
It's clear that Groves looks off-balance because he's swinging back at Froch. And for those saying he was limp and had his arms by hs side, he clearly brings his gloves up to protect himself as the ref charges in to stop it.
Groves gets caught with big clean shots in that exchange, no question about it. But it's just not enough to stop someone in a championship fight where they've been more than competitive.
You look at slow-motion replays of any exchange in a fight and the blows look absolutely shocking. If three or four blows come together then it looks even worse. But that's what's going on all the time in a big fight. Guys are getting hit. It's doesn't mean they need to be stopped.
Think about that exchange between Tim Bradley and Provodnikov where Bradley's against the ropes and Ruslan is teeing off on him. Show that in slow-motion and see how savage it looks. Bradley is just flailing back with his arms and looks completely out of it. Was the ref wrong not to stop Tim Bradley? He stumbles back to his stool after the bell goes.
But Bradley recovered and eked out a close if disputed decision. He was given the chance to fight and he took it. There's no guarantee that Groves would have done the same, but he should have been given the chance as well.
The ref probably was wrong not to stop the Bradley-Prov fight a couple times over. It's a fine line between protecting the fighters and allowing them to go out on their shield. Most refs likely stop that fight at one of those points where Bradley is clearly out of it. It's a hard thing to decide.
Not arguing the Froch/Groves stoppage was good, though, don't get me wrong. Groves definitely deserved a chance to fight back and recover.
He would have gotten really hurt if it wasn't stopped.
While Groves can punch back, Froch might be hurt as well.
But the indicator is whether someone falls to the canvas. Groves never did, so it was a premature stoppage. Plus Groves was ahead on scorecards.
But I wanted Froch to win, but weve been denied 3 extra rounds of excitement. Groves wasn't hurt, only the ref was seeing things like the little boy in the sixth sense.
Actually Groves was hurt, and so was Froch, that's boxing.
The ref was trigger happy in stopping the fight. Even before all of that he was really anxious and was looking to stop the fight even before that headlock stoppage. Horrible ref that should never ref ever again. This was horrible for British boxing as a whole. I'm an American watching this stuff and I was horrified how a potential fight of the year was stopped so easily.
a potential fight of the year that wouldn't have lasted more than 5 seconds longer...
The ref was trigger happy in stopping the fight. Even before all of that he was really anxious and was looking to stop the fight even before that headlock stoppage. Horrible ref that should never ref ever again. This was horrible for British boxing as a whole. I'm an American watching this stuff and I was horrified how a potential fight of the year was stopped so easily.
Different angle - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51bAmx89ciw
It's clear that Groves looks off-balance because he's swinging back at Froch. And for those saying he was limp and had his arms by hs side, he clearly brings his gloves up to protect himself as the ref charges in to stop it.
Groves gets caught with big clean shots in that exchange, no question about it. But it's just not enough to stop someone in a championship fight where they've been more than competitive.
You look at slow-motion replays of any exchange in a fight and the blows look absolutely shocking. If three or four blows come together then it looks even worse. But that's what's going on all the time in a big fight. Guys are getting hit. It's doesn't mean they need to be stopped.
Think about that exchange between Tim Bradley and Provodnikov where Bradley's against the ropes and Ruslan is teeing off on him. Show that in slow-motion and see how savage it looks. Bradley is just flailing back with his arms and looks completely out of it. Was the ref wrong not to stop Tim Bradley? He stumbles back to his stool after the bell goes.
But Bradley recovered and eked out a close if disputed decision. He was given the chance to fight and he took it. There's no guarantee that Groves would have done the same, but he should have been given the chance as well.
the tim bradely right a terrible example, firstly most here had him losing that fight.
But more importantly it should have been stopped because you can bet your bottom dollar that Tim will get serious neurological probems. Hell didn't he have concussion 2 months after that fight?
Bad example that fuell how good of a stoppage howard foster did.
Different angle - http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=51bAmx89ciw
It's clear that Groves looks off-balance because he's swinging back at Froch. And for those saying he was limp and had his arms by hs side, he clearly brings his gloves up to protect himself as the ref charges in to stop it.
Groves gets caught with big clean shots in that exchange, no question about it. But it's just not enough to stop someone in a championship fight where they've been more than competitive.
You look at slow-motion replays of any exchange in a fight and the blows look absolutely shocking. If three or four blows come together then it looks even worse. But that's what's going on all the time in a big fight. Guys are getting hit. It's doesn't mean they need to be stopped.
Think about that exchange between Tim Bradley and Provodnikov where Bradley's against the ropes and Ruslan is teeing off on him. Show that in slow-motion and see how savage it looks. Bradley is just flailing back with his arms and looks completely out of it. Was the ref wrong not to stop Tim Bradley? He stumbles back to his stool after the bell goes.
But Bradley recovered and eked out a close if disputed decision. He was given the chance to fight and he took it. There's no guarantee that Groves would have done the same, but he should have been given the chance as well.
froch was much more hurt in the first.
i understand that it was later in the fight, but groves was never taking a sustained beating.
it was a quick stoppage. he definitely wasn't out on his feet.
the ref grabbed him long before any of the behavior you see when he's being held. who is to say that he didn't drop his hands because he figured out that he was being stopped, the fighters were being broken apart, etc.
wrong, froch took the 8 count, which gave him his senses back, and was able to defend himself and never took another shot then the bell went.
Froch won the 2nd round on my book.
Groves unfortunately turned his back, head slumped, arms limp after taking 7/8 shots with no answer to froch.
The stoppage was to good, and froch has been harshly treated, as has the ref who has saved groves career.
I don`t think the stoppage was as bad as a lot of people was saying it was, but it was stopped a little too early in my opinion.
That's the idea. The only idea.
Yes, the referee was a lifesaver. He should receive a medal.
I've heard that this ref has a history in early stoppages.
He should receive more that a medal -- namely a fair bonus from the projected rematch at the Wembley stadium.
Two brutal right hands landed on the button. Groves was going to get laid out imo, the referee's arguably premature stoppage has almost guaranteed him a rematch and the biggest payday of his career.
The ref's premature stoppage victimised Groves and caused Froch's post-fight behavior that damaged his reputation.
(I voted for Froch by KO).
Well, he was falling down (face first) and he was lucky that the ref grabbed him no to... isn't it? Groves nearly died, isn't it?
Yes, the referee was a lifesaver. He should receive a medal.
He was out on his feet, slumped over, he went limp and was falling down face first.
He is lucky the referee did stop it because he was not under any circumstances defending himself.
He was done and out for a few seconds.
Can say headlock all you like, look at his body language prior, during and after that. Look at his posture, his arms.
Well, he was falling down (face first) and he was lucky that the ref grabbed him no to... isn't it? Groves nearly died, isn't it?
Terrible stoppage, I don't care what angle is presented.
It was a world title fight for fcuks sake. Typical British stoppage. Let's stop making excuses for it. It robbed Froch of the victory as he would have probably stopped Groves anyway down the stretch and us punters got robbed too because it was premature in my eyes